A place of no stars
by Vertex Stanum
Summary: Ninetail is a Thunder Clan Cat. When she was young, she was a rogue with her mother and her little brother, Mercygiver. But unfortunately, Mercygiver is not a Thunder Clan cat. He is a River Clan cat, by the way. You can tell this family had no luck. I will tell you why this family had no luck and why they had to be apart.
1. Chapter 1

Ninetail is a Thunder Clan Cat. When she was young, she was a rogue with her mother and her little brother, Mercygiver. But unfortunately, Mercygiver is not a Thunder Clan cat. He is a River Clan cat, by the way. You can tell this family had no luck. I will tell you why this family had no luck and why they had to be apart.

Ninetail and Mercygiver were born in a rabbit hole. Oh, I forgot to tell you that they had different names then. Ninetail's name was Nine, and her brother's name was Mercy. Yes. They had different names because they were rouges. The mother of these kits had no name. Or, maybe their mother never told them. One day, the kits thought why they had no father. So when the kits asked about their father, their mother only said that their father was a brave, beautiful silver tom. But, Nine and Mercy never knew what was silver. As you thought, they had born in a rabbit hole. And they never had a chance to know the colors of the world. All they knew was black, darkness. They wanted to see the amazing outside world that their mother always described. But mother said:

"outside world is a full of danger, dear kits. When you go out, the freezing cold of night will surround you. When you take a step to the clan's territory, the clan cats will rip you to parts. When you get spotted to Twolegs, then Twolegs will take you and you will be never seen. This rabbit hole is only where you can be safe. I am trying to protect you from all of this."

Nine and Mercy just nodded and went back to sleep. That night, when the wind was warm and flowers were dancing and trees were singing, the fireflies were lighting the dark night. It was then. One firefly suddenly went into the rabbit hole. He flew around the hole drawing a circle. Nine and Mercy woke up in sudden light. They had never seen such a bright light. Yes. They had seen light for the first time. Nine had exclaimed.

"Wow! is that the sun? is this the light?"

Mercy smiled but he cannot open his eyes. Mercy said:

"I cannot open my eyes! what is this bright thing? is outside world this bright?"

Mother had laughed and said that she will tell them something. Mercy and Nine Listened very carefully to her story.

"Did I tell you about night? when night comes, everything becomes dark. and when night comes, the star shines as well."

Mercy interrupted her story.

"Then, if it's not night, what do you call that?"

Mother laughed and answered his question.

"We call that day. Anyway, when night comes, you can see the stars. They are just like this firefly. In the sky there is nothing but darkness, but few moments later, you can see lights glowing in the darkness. That is stars."

Nine and mercy looked carefully to the firefly. And this time, Mercy opened his eyes and saw the light. And that, was the last night Nine and Mercy spent with their mother.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The very next day, the family woke up with a disgusting smell all around the rabbit hole. The family woke up. "What is this smell?" said Nine. Her mother answered her.

"I do not know. But I think we need to get out of here."

Then mother dig the wall. So she made a hole big enough for Nine and Mercy, and herself to get out. Then she said "Nine, you go first. Mercy, you go as second." Nine and mercy nodded. Nine breathed and made her head out. She saw something that is big. That looked like a monster. It had black-circled leg and something, she thought 'so that's a twoleg!' and she found that this monster was coming towards her, and the rabbit hole. She quickly got out of the hole and shouted desperately:

"Mercy! Come out now! A monster is coming!"

Mercy heard her shouting. He put his face and his front foot out of the rabbit hole. He tried to get his rest of the body out. But, the body left was stuck. He cried "I can't get out!" then he heard something. Then he saw the monster running towards them. Mercy's sky-blue eyes trembled. Nine pulled him and he tried to get out. But he was stuck in so tight that pulling a tree would move more. The monster was coming in very fast speed. Then, he finally got himself out. Now mother had to come out. Mother poked out her face and looked at the direction where the monster was coming. Then, mother froze. She probably froze because of fear. Her eyes were full of sadness and frightened emotion. And that moment was the last moment that mother was alive.

Nine and Mercy was very still for a heartbeat. Then Mercy looked back where the mother was left coldly, and said "Mother?" his voice trembled. Nine ran towards the dead, cold body. She did not want to believe this was happening. Mercy felt so sorry and guilty. 'only if I didn't got stuck...' he thought. But being sorry does not make mother alive again. Nine consoled him. "It's not your fault." She meowed sadly.

That night, Nine and Mercy looked at the dark, black sky. "Nine," Mercy called his sister. "do you remember what mother told us?" he looked up at the sky. Nine looked at the black, dark sky, too. "Yes, I remember. Mother said if we get out of the rabbit hole at night, we can see the stars." she said. And sadly added "but, where is the stars? I can't see any." She searched for the stars to shine, but there was no light, no hope in the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Nine woke up at sunrise. She thought herself had heard a movement from the bushes that was right next to her, so she looked in the bushes. In the bush, there was a pinch, looking for a worm to eat, she thought. Nine carefully moved and leaped to the pinch. But the pinch flew away. "Mouse dung!" Nine cried. Mercy woke up and looked around, "What? What is it?" Mercy gave a frightening look. "Nothing." answered Nine. And that was when she realized how hungry she was. She tasted the air, "Mercy," Nine asked her brother, looking him carefully. "Are you hungry?" Nine finally mewed. Mercy opened his mouth to say no, but his stomach answered for him that he is hungry.

"I am about going hunting. I will get you something that we can eat. Like that pinch."

Nine mewed silently. "Um, then you are going alone? Mercy asked her sister. But Nine just walked away. "Hey! I can go, too! I can catch you a mouse." Mercy said carefully. Nine was thinking about what mother had said to them. She said there would be cold, clan cats, and twolegs.

'Twolegs. . . they killed my mother, but not my brother.'

Nine thought. She could not, she would never, Take her brother to such danger.

"I cannot take you, Mercy. What if that twoleg and monster come back and get you?"

Nine looked at her brother. There was pain in her clear sky-blue eyes. But Mercy shot back.

"Then, what if the twolegs get you? Nine, you know I cannot make that happen!"

Nine told her brother much more firmly. "No, if you go, you and I will be both caught." she mewed silently. That was true. Nine and Mercy were no bigger, and no older until 7 moons. They were just kits. They were small, and did not know the outside-world. Nine said to her brother, determinedly.

"Let me go. This won't be the last time you see me."

Then she gave him a smile. And she slowly walked away. This was the last conversation until they meet again, as an enemy.


	4. Chapter 4

div style="font-size: medium; border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom: 1.5pt solid windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;"  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"Nine:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"Nine walked and walked. The day was so hot that her white pelt could turn as black. She could smell some other cats, too. She thought that this might be the 'clan cats'./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US""I would have to be more careful. . ."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"She murmured. But it wasn't only clan cats she needed to be careful. She was tired and hot. But, she was in some moorland, so she could not find trees to shelter. Then, at that very moment, Nine saw a big maple tree with lots of shades. And she found a forest, too. Nine ran to the maple tree and rested herself, and cooled her burning pelt. She mentioned that she needed to hunt, but she did not want to do hunting in such a hot weather. But she got up./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US""Mercy would be starving. I guess. . . "/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"She mewed. Then, she tasted the air. Looking for something that she could eat. Then she noticed that in the forest, there was another scent. It was cats. But different cat scent from the moorland./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"'Would there be more clans then one?' Nine thought. Puzzled. And she heard paw steps. It was not one that was coming./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"Mercy:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"Mercy waited, and waited for Nine to comeback. But the weather got hot and hot. Even if he was in the shade, somehow, it was still hot. Now he was desperate for water./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"'Isn't there some water here? Oh Nine, why aren't you coming?'/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"He mewed to himself. He was starving and thirsty, and hot at the same time. But until the sun was in the middle of the sky, Nine did not came back. Mercy was now worried his sister./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"'I will go and find a place to get water. If she comes back, I will give her some water! Yes, that will do great. Nine will love it.'/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"He thought. And went off to the unknown. He tasted the air, not far away, He could smell water and a rushing sound. He was a little bit scared about the rushing sound./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"'What if that is a monster running. . . ? No. It can't be. There is no scent of monsters.'/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"span lang="EN-US"He went towards the rushing sound and the scent of water. But there was a cliff. he put his paw at the edge of the cliff. Looking at the blue, rushing river. Then, the earth collapsed and Mercy fell into the blue river./span/p  
/div 


End file.
